A 78-year-old German man was hiding a full-size tank in his basement

Paul Szoldra
Apr 2, 2018 9:37 AM PDT
1 minute read
A 78-year-old German man was hiding a full-size tank in his basement


Plenty of people collect World War II memorabilia and small trinkets, but a 78-year-old man in Germany was found with something much bigger: A 44-ton tank.

Acting on a tip, police in northern Germany raided the man's house on Thursday and found a treasure trove of Nazi military gear inside the man's cellar, including a Panther tank, a torpedo, and an anti-aircraft gun. How he got it down into his cellar was not clear, but it took 20 soldiers nearly nine hours to haul everything out, according to the BBC.

In the nearby city of Kiel, prosecutors were still trying to figure out whether the weapons violate the country's War Weapons Control Act, which requires military weaponry to be licensed.

Interestingly enough, a guy having a tank as a personal vehicle was somewhat of an open secret in the town.

"He was chugging around in that thing during the snow catastrophe in 1978," Heikendorf Mayor Alexander Orth told local media. "Some people like steam trains, others like tanks."

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Sign up for We Are The Mighty's newsletter and receive the mighty updates!

By signing up you agree to our We Are The Mighty's Terms of Use and We Are The Mighty's Privacy Policy.

SHARE